Withstanding over a hundred storms, the St. Marks Lighthouse has been a navigational beacon for over a century and a half guiding recreational, military, and merchant vessels from around the world to the mouth of the St. Marks River.

DESCRIPTION:  The structure consists of the light keeper's house attached to the 80 foot tower, both resting on a 12-foot thick limestone base.  According to local legend the limestone blocks are from the ruins of old Fort San Marcos de Apalachee.  Eighty-five steps spiral up the brick tower to the lantern room, the first seventy-five are wood and the last thirteen are iron.  The tower walls are four feet thick at the base, tapering to 18 inches at the top.  The lantern room still contains the Fresnal lens installed in 1866.  Over the years oil, kerosene, and electricity have powered the lamp which can be seen up to 15 miles.  the keeper's house has four foot thick brick walls with twelve windows and two chimneys.  Two exterior doors open onto the long covered porch.  The St. Marks tower pattern has always been white with a black lantern top. 

FIRST LIGHTHOUSE:  In 1828, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an act which authorized the construction of a lighthouse in St. Marks.  A contract was signed with Winslow Lewis of Boston for a tower in the St. Marks area for $11,765.  In March 1830, the local customs inspector refused to accept the completed tower for the U.S. Government citing that the contract had called for solid walls, not the hollow wall that Lewis had constructed.  It was rebuilt and accepted in 1831.  Erosion forced the tower to be rebuilt again with double walls in its present location in 1842.  The first lighthouse keeper was Samuel Crosby (1830-1839), followed by Benjamin Metcalf (1839-1841) and then Captain J. P. Hungerford (1841-1844), whose family survived the terrible hurricane of 1843 by escaping to the attic, but fifteen others in the dwelling drowned.

Bottom of stairwell in tower		Looking up at stairwell		Final 13 iron stairs

ANTEBELLUM LIGHTHOUSE:  Needham Dudley (1844-1850) was the keeper when Florida became a state in 1845, followed by his wife, Mrs. Ann Dudley (1850-1854), who became the first woman light keeper at St. Marks.  Three large hurricanes hit the lighthouse in the 1850s.  One destroyed the 160 foot long sea wall, six feet thick and ten feet high that had been built in 1844.  In the 1851 storm Ann Dudley lost almost all her worldly possessions totaling around $1,100.  Her petition to Congress for compensation went unheeded.  David Kennedy became the keeper in 1860 which he held before, during and after the Civil War.

Ranger Andy Edel with Fresnal lens		Inside of Fresnal lens (with electric bulb)
View from final landing before lantern room		View from the top!

CIVIL WAR - 1899:  The Union blockaded Apalachee Bay during the Civil War and burned the lighthouse stairs to keep it from being used as a lookout post by the Confederates.  In March 1865 a fleet of 16 ships landed around 1,000 Union troops near the lighthouse.  Their defeat at Natural Bridge on March 6 kept Tallahassee from being occupied by the Union during the war.  After the war the tower and keeper's house were bebuilt and light keeper David Kennedy relit the lamp on January 8, 1867.  In 1873 yet another hurricane forced the family into the tower where they survived the night.  Later repairs were undertaken to the house and tower and the porch, still extant, was added.  Light keeper George Gibson left in 1891 and was replaced by Charles O. Fine. 

Looking towards St. Marks		Andy Edel at top of lighthouse
Looking out of the lantern room door		View of Lighthouse Road

TWENTIETH CENTURY:  Charles Fine died in 1904 and his wife Sarah became the second woman light keeper at St. Marks.  One of her daughters, Lela Fine, was born there, married there and lived most of her life there after her husband, John Young Gresham, became keeper in 1916.  During Gresham's tenure a cistern, kitchen, outhouse, picket fence, boathouse and dock, and a maintenance building were added.  For the first time the keeper's children were educated by a teacher in a one-room combination house and school room.  Also St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge was created in 1931 and the road built to the lighthouse.  His son, Alton Gresham succeeded him in 1957 and so became the last light keeper at St. Marks as the light was automated in 1960.  In 1974, the St. Marks Lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Base of the tower in background		This room was either living room or kitchen
Exterior view of keeper's house and tower		Looking from tower room into other room

This story reprinted from information published by the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.

All photos taken by Wakulla.com on September 5, 2006 (except for first pic which was taken by Wakulla.com at an earlier date).

This article republished on September 6, 2006. 

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